Unresolved just unboxed my printer

Heated bed by itself isn't great for adhering PLA. It's possible but difficult.

I've found blue painters tape works best, but I've also had success in the past with hairspray or gluestick with pva or UHU.

For older beds I saw a method of using a rubber o-ring underneeth the bed on the posts. You can then use these as springs to adjust the levelness of the bed.

I also noticed in your prints that you were using lift. This could conceivable induce backlash if your nuts are a little lose, causing the print height to be incorrect. Try disabling that and seeing if it helps. Might be the issue with the skirt

 

in matter control, where do i find the lift setting?
since lift is on by default, in the software, what is the point of lift, when should one use it?

so the wavy print on one end, is level issue within the bed itself?

 

I found lift under slice settings > Printer > Extruder 1. You need to have "Show all settings" enabled to see it. It should by default be 0.5mm if you set that to 0 it should help.

Lift can be helpful in situations where you have stringing. It can also prevent clipping of the part if it starts to curl or a blob that could catch the nozzle causing it to get stuck, losing its position.

The bed "may" be warped, especially the older 3mm thick version. I've heard it happen but never seen it myself. Leveling it manually is the best option for a kickstarter robo, and I suggest using a dial gauge to measure.

 

mine looks like this

 

Ugh, they are so damn inconsistent with their software

I found it in the Filament settings

 

Do you mean under filament > retraction> z lift? currently set at 1 mm (default)
What software do you use to do your printing.
I am not understanding how it work fine for a print but now I can reproduce the same print (i.e the name badge)
I printed a circle last week with green PLA and now I can not with red.

 

Printing is a fickle beast. Not much more to it than that.

Correct, drop that to 0 and you might reduce backlash, which is more of a guess as to what's happening.

I've been using Cura lately. Clean and simple which I like. I also use repetier sometimes, but not usually.

 

Can you please share with me machine settings that i need to plug in to Cura? mainly e-steps per 1 mm
I am getting such inconsistency with matter control.. ie now layer view will not work.

 

so I used raft with air gap of .4 and was able to get my print to stick and print well.
I read raft is good way to deal with warped beds or trying to stick small object to bed.
I also clean my bed with isopropyl alcohol and that seems to help with sticking. so after 2 or 3 prints it needs to be wiped clean.

 

Toothed gear piece
PLA 230
heated bed 80 8layers 70after
Raft with air gap .4022
Using matter slice
Infill 1
Medium setting

 

For PLA you will want to use an oiler our you will have issues. Once you add an oiler a clean heated bed won't be enough for adhesion, you'll need to use hairspray with the right ingredients. 60C should be good, I use 65C currently. If you use blue painter's tape get 3M Original and use it I am unheated bed, you can wipe the tape over with methylated spirits for even better adhesion. I have no experience with glue sick.

This is all from my personal experience and education from the great users of this forum, they know who they are.

 

That's a beautiful print. Good job man.

I still don't think PLA needs over 40C for the bed

 

I have only one of the ingredients in my hairspray. Anything below 55C and the print doesn't sick. I'll have to find some better spray some time. I don't think we have Aquanet in Aus.